Question: Can you give me some tips on using the Macro shooting modes on my camera?

Answer:
Macrophotography is close-up photography. It is used extensively in science, medicine and engineering. It can also be used artistically to capture stunning images of flowers, insects or abstract images of everyday subjects. If you like to tinker or do mechanical repairs, macrophotography can used to record the process of disassembly and reassembly. In the past macrophotography required special macro lenses that screwed into the filter threads of non-macro lenses to reduce the minimum focusing distance of a lens. Your Olympus point-and-shoot camera has two Macro shooting modes built into the camera, so it is not necessary to invest in additional equipment to do close-up photography. On Olympus digital cameras, the Macro settings are often selected using the left or right arrow button and are set by pressing the OK button. The function can be located in the Function Menu of newer Olympus cameras.

The Macro Mode (flower icon) enables moderate close-up photography. When the mode is selected, the icon will appear on the LCD screen. It will shoot close-ups but will also focus to infinity without having to deselect the Macro shooting mode. It automatically uses the AUTO flash setting. The lens can be zoomed in the Macro Mode and some menu settings can be changed.

The Super Macro Mode (S flower icon) is used for extreme close-up photography—as close as a single computer keyboard key. When the mode is selected, the icon will appear on the LCD screen. When in the Super Macro Mode, the camera will not focus to infinity, so it is important to remember to deselect Super Macro Mode for general photography. It is important to physically move the camera very close to the subject. Since the flash is so close to the subject using Super Macro Mode, the flash is not enabled. This means the camera will only capture the available light source. It is important to stabilize the camera using a monopod or tripod. Some of our Tough series models offer a small LED light. This small light is angled to shine on the subject in Super Macro Mode. Also, since the optical setup of the lens is changed for the Super Macro Mode, optical and digital zoom are disabled. A few of the menu items may also be inaccessible in the Super Macro Mode.

Videos can be shot using the Macro modes, so it is possible to record a movie of a bee on a flower, for example. Autofocus cannot be used during recording, so the focus must be locked at the beginning of the clip by half-pressing the shutter button to set the focus and then pressing the shutter button all the way down to start recording. The camera must be held at the locked focus distance to maintain focus during the recording.